A week before the season starts and Arsenal have a 20 year old trialist on the bench, but it was the Gunners who went ahead in the 10th minute despite some early Man City pressure.

Theo Walcott got on the end of a fantastic Aaron Ramsey pass which dissected the City defence. The England winger took a touch and clipped it over Joe Hart to make it 1-0 to Arsenal.

James Milner thrashed a shot just over the Arsenal bar a few moments later, and Laurent Koscielny had to clear from almost off the line after Negredo beat Szczesny to a Zabaleta cross. He hooked the ball goalwards but Koscielny was on hand to avert the danger.

City were claiming a penalty when Kieran Gibbs blocked a low David Silva cross but nothing was given, before Arsenal broke forward through Jack Wilshere who played it wide to Bacary Sagna. The right back cut inside and lashed a left footed shot which Joe Hart touched onto the post and away to safety.

Vincent Kompany picked up a yellow card for challenge on Podolski, and in the 29th minute Wojciech Szczesny saved well with his feet after Dzeko found some space after a Yaya Toure pass and took a close range shot.

Negredo then created real danger, thrusting past Mertesacker, but not for the first time Koscielny was in the perfect position to snuff out the low cross, and the Gunners took the one goal lead into the half-time break.

For the second half, Lukasz Fabianski replaced Szczesny, Oliveri Giroud took the place of Lukas Podolski, and Santi Cazorla came on for Jack Wilshere, while chinless creep and former Arsenal man, $amir Na£ri got a run out for City.

The second Pole was quick off his line to deny Negredo after Toure played a ball between the two centre-halves which the Spaniard failed to control first time. And the former Sevilla man had another effort after good City build up, seeing his right footed shot go wide although Fabianski had it well covered.

Once again though, it was Arsenal who made the breakthrough, as Aaron Ramsey doubled the lead in the 60th minute. The Welshman started the move in midfield, played a one two with Theo Walcott with Cazorla letting it run past him on the way through, and the midfielder rounded Joe Hart and made it 2-0.

And within a minute it was 3-0. Theo Walcott played a brilliant diagonal ball right over Vincent Kompany, it fell for Giroud who controlled it and lobbed it over the onrushing Hart.

Arsenal then brought on Sebastien Perez in place of Mikel Arteta with the Colombian looking to impress Arsene Wenger as his trial continued, and only the offside flag denied Olivier Giroud his second of the game when he tucked away a Walcott cross.

Sagna and Oxlade-Chamberlain then made way for Carl Jenkinson and Gedion Zelalem, while the busy, but most ineffective, Negredo fired a low shot wide of the Arsenal goal.

But he got his goal in the 78th minute when he held off Koscielny and went through to slide the ball past Fabianski to make it 3-1. Youngster Perez picked up a yellow card for a foul on Jesus Navas, but from the resulting free kick Negredo hit the wall.

Arsenal lost quite a bit of fluency having made so many changes, and for such young, inexperienced players, but in the end saw the game out and more than deserved their win.

Overall, a very solid and promising performance from Arsene Wenger’s side. There’ll be some who will bemoan the fact that a win will make the Frenchman keep the chequebook closed but in the end the result should have no bearing on our need to strengthen the squad, something which is still obvious.

Still, in terms of build-up for Villa, it’s just what the doctor ordered.

287 COMMENTS

Standard really, I think most continental players find it strange when they dive they don’t get anything here. I was happy with that for once, dnt tell me City wern’t trying, they were and they couldn’t find a way, which is encouraging.
Now just open the wallet, get in the signings, rumours about Gustavo, might not have a meltdown come september, yeah.

Unlike Arseblog, who is a legend, I note that even after an hour, there is no post in which to comment about this game on the Guardian. Has Durham laid siege, ably foisted by Robson patrolling the entrance to the building?

Great performance, but poldi you gotta take on a defender on a 1 on 1 situation, instead he looked for a pass and play broke down. If only we had ( insert player name), he would have taken on the defender and rounded off the goalie.

Sorry to quite blatantly and shamelessly jump in on this post but this should settle some nerves:

From Arsenal.com

on if he’s [Wenger] happy with the strikers he’s got…
“I think what is important is the strength of the squad. Today is one game. We want to play 55 games and we are maybe a bit thin squad-wise to go through a whole season.”

Ramsey looking fucking good I agree, could be a big season for him. It makes me so happy that it’s looking like he’s really starting to fulfil his potential, been the stand out performer for me this pre-season. Top top top quality.

With Ramsey, I just think it is so easy to underestimate how long it can take to fully recover from what happened to him. Second half of last season, we finally started to see the real Ramsey again regularly.

The really depressing thing is that the other two players of ours that suffered similar violations, never truly recovered.

If we get one or two more key injuries to decimate the senior squad and are out of the running again before Christmas, then hell yes. Good performance todaybut let’s not forget 4 shots on target will not normally win us points

Very true, but I did say “normally”. And by the way Arsenal have never been boring, unless you find defending well and outscoring the opposition boring, it’s a myth, a chant made up by jealous c*nts who didn’t like us winning ugly…..

True TomJ, we are not going to be that clinical all the time, so in order to overcome that we need to be creating more chances and have a decent conversion rate, but its nice to know we can do it. Bayern beat Barfaloner 3-0 at the Camp with only 4 shots on target and Arsenal beat Bayern 2-0 with only 3 on target at the Alliance, in the CL.

No point having 12 shots on target then losing out to Bradford now is it?

Theo was excellent, so glad he extended his contract.
Cos if we had sold him, we most probably wouldn’t haven’t replaced him adequately.
To think blogs was so sure he was going, you got that 1 wrong mate 🙂

Seriously, Rambo was awesome today. Really hope he carries on his pre-season form to the season. I really think Wenger is going to have a hard time picking the midfield, especially for the first few weeks. I can’t see him dropping Arteta or Ramsey.

Good awareness, retains the ball well, plays simply but effectively. The only thing is that he and Zelalem didn’t have the athleticism or teamwork (obviously) to press and get the ball back. All in all, he looks worth a chance, I think.

Redondante – completely agree with you mate. He’s very tidy in the pass, makes space for himself very well. On his short stint you can easily see he almost always provides an outlet when playing the ball out of defense. Kinda like Arteta in that sense. However not much was on offer regards to him sensing out dangerous plays early and breaking them up (something Arteta does to great effect). Arsene must know he requires this before he can sign up Perez so I’m not worried, it’s Wenger after all who transformed Arteta into one of the best defensive midfielder. On the plus side Perez is rather dreamy, I really don’t mind if we were to sign him up!!

Too early to tell, but its encouraging to see that there exists a trialist that we are trying to sign after all. The biggest worry of most fans now is that Arsene has gone crazy and we will sign nobody and commit the team to suicide. Trialists come and go, but the idea that we took one serious enough to play him in the first team shows that we are looking at signings after all. Phew

Watchd him exclusively after he came on, just because the idea of a trial in such conditions, being two up, seemed to be a pretty interesting situation for a player in the defensive midfield position. I thought his movement laterally was great, he moved forward when he had to, covered defense adequately, and in general had a good day out. On the game itself, in the tunnel the players looked a bit worried, but on the field performed magnificently. Bosscielny is the best. I fully expect a 40 mill bid for him from Real or Barcelona next year. At this point I’d take Rami, Gustavo, Lamela/Martinez and a winger. Thoughts?

Yep we might not lose anyone important this summer but with the transfer inactivity till now and if we indeed do not make any significant summer signings then this might well be a recipe for disaster next season. starting with koscienly and e.t.c

You who thumbed down, beyond your obvious negativity, do you actually have anything positive to say? I mentioned a great team performance and then three signings we not only could afford, Wenger-style, but that also happen to be available and in areas we need strengthening. I sometimes wonder why Blogs does what he does, I really do. Some of you lot are dire turds.

Bollocks. Forgot to add that Perez looks interesting. That said, 20 minutes or so against even City isn’t really enough to judge.

But….considering when he was on, we were working with a midfield of him, Ramsey and Zelalem and City couldn’t take advantage says a lot. It says even more that with a few minutes to go, Wenger was happy to take Ramsey off and give Isaac Hayden a few minutes.

I think we need to look at the history of such comments from Wenger to keep some context.

This generally doesn’t lead to a proven world class player coming in, or anyone who can hit the ground running. He will generally sign a Chamakh, Squillachi, Gervinho or Santos level player to fill a gap.

It is not an indication that he is going to go all out and buy a proven winner to slot into the first team.

Perez looks like a fine player, he’s still young, but he obviously has potential. One thing is bothering me, though: he needs to embrace the fact that he’s going bald. His comb-over isn’t fooling anyone. We just shipped off Gervinho’s hair disaster, now Perez shows up with head band and comb-over. It’s tough for such a young man, but he should man-up, bite the bullet, shave it all off and focus on playing ferocious football.

Very good defensive, Counter attacking performance carrying on from last season. Didn’t know about that Perez chap being in trial with us, He seems good and a type of player we need as back up for Arteta hopefully we sign him. Overall happy with the performance. + Those spanish players Man city bought are diving Cunts!

Henry is friends with Juan Pablo Angel (who played at Aston Villa a few years back), they played together at New York Red Bulls. He went to Medellín, Colombia to visit a few days and he was training with Nacional (Angel’s boyhood team, who he joined again this year and won the league).

I’m pretty sure he trained with Sebastián Pérez when he was there, so this looks like it’s true, Henry might has given his blessing for him to trial with us!

Brilliant win against a strong team… but i so wanted us 2 loose this game.. so wenger could buy player not panic buys but just decent players.. anways onwards and up .. great start 2 the season.. bring on villa

blogs, this is efficiency par excellence! how do you do it? well what a fantastic score. only if AW will just spend some f**king ££££££. already the great Mozart is being reported to be carrying some knocks.

Perez is a genuinely talented Colombian youth international . He is highly rated defensive midfielder who is two footed and can play good long balls from the back. He has obviously impressed Wenger. I think he can be a solid back up for Arteta

Hopefully we do. I’ve seen him play in last terms Colombian championship final and he did amazing trough the whole campaing for Atletico Nacional. He was formed in the same academy most of the best players in colombia are from (james, jackson, zuñiga…)
I hope we sign him, he is a good one for the close future.

really excellent finishes for all 3 goals, we didnt create too many openings (against kompany and co, so not complaining) but the ones we did it was sharp and confident finishing

we do need to sort out the defensive concentration for the first 15 mins or so, it seems to be a habit of ours being a bit chaotic in the opening mins

i do worry about jacks fitness for an entire season, he does seems to get involved in lots of physical challenges, obviously he’s targeted a lot as he is always there in the mix and driving forward, but sometimes wish that perhaps he’d hold back a little in some of them.
(it is quite entertaining to see him trying to bulldoze through kompany though)
if he can remain injury free he does look like he’s going to be fantastic for us this year, in a few months he should be back to 100%

I do have the same worries about Jack, but I am hoping that with the World Cup next year that referees will give him a good level of protection. The FA need him to be fit for Brazil, so hopefully they will not want a situation where Jacks season is not over after some Northern Troll does a two footed tackle on him.

I only saw highlights of the game yesterday and was concerned with our Cavalier attitude to defending in first 15 mins, otherwise good game.

Wow. Great match!! Both team brought their A game, I almost forgot it was a friendly. & I must say, Giroud & Theo is awesome upfront. Btw where’s the Man City supporters in the crowd? All I can see is gooners. Word.

Good to see fans supporting Ramsey after all the hate he received last season! He had a brilliant game. Giroud is looking like an absolute killer this year.

All in all its good to see that spending 90+ million may buy you the best players, but not the best team… Now we just need to spend those pennies the board have been hoarding to strengthen our squad and we will be unstoppable!

I agree… the whole FFP has been sort of forgotten about. Although I don’t see how it works when the team is owned and sponsored by the same company, they can just through money at it. Didnt Etihad sponsor the training ground for like 400 million or something stupid to get around the FFP.

Anyways even if Manchester Sugar Daddy are meant to be one of the favourites to win the league money does not buy class. When we win the league it will be down to hard work and commitment and not because daddy bought us a a load of mercenaries

The 400m was a ten year deal and was a mix of training ground development and shirt sponsorship. So 40m per year isn’t special.
There are quite clear rules about direct and related sponsorship deals.
Have a look at the financialfairplay.co.uk site for info.

Thanks for the link Andy. It has cleared up some confusion. Basically the mega rich clubs have nothing to fear as money to them is no problem.. So basically the FFP does not apply to clubs like Chelsea or Man C.. here is a copy and paste for others who are interested.

“Let’s use an example of a club losing €30m during the first Monitoring Period. We can see that the club passes the Break-Even test (as the loss is below the €45 threshold). However the €30m loss is above the €5m figure and the owner will need to take some action. In this example the club will create additional shares which the owner will have to buy for €25m (the difference between €30m and €5m). The Club will gain €25m in cash (ensuring the club’s overdraft/debt doesn’t increase) and the owner will be out of pocket by €25… This scenario might not trouble Abramovich or Sheikh Mansour but is the irksome prospect facing the owners of clubs such as Newcastle, Sunderland and Aston Villa.

So whats fair about the whole FFP when the mega rich can just keep throwing money about??

GM, If Messi had become available for 70m then I’m pretty certain the club would have found the money but we didn’t have 70m for anything other than that kind of quality. We had a big debt for the stadium (which almost every other team in Europe is jealous of).

Great result, played with real purpose (forgive me I know it’s only a friendly). I’ve said it before I really have no qualms with this team, they’re actually very good. Both Ramsey and Walcott coming of age at the right time (hope Wilshere decides to join too), Giroud a year wiser and form picking up. The only real problem is squad depth, we had to play two players on trial today to cover for both of Ramsey and Mikel. Outrageous. I’d wager both of them will get played to the ground this season, and how long will we hear Wenger tread his old “players are jaded, played with handbrake on” so on? We know, HE knows we need depth yet nothing is happening. Luis Gustavo can easily cover for those two players. And even slot in at CB, Karl Heinz Rummenege has even said Bayern are willing to let him go for £8 mill, that’s a bloody coup if you ask me. Go for it Arsene.

I’ve never understood the ‘its only a friendly’ arguments for a game like this.

Its a week before the season, the players are running at maybe 90% where they should be, and both sides took it as seriously as they could (the tackling alone says that).

The only point available today was a psychological one, but we won it, and you can bet that City losing to a rival at this point is the last thing they wanted. The boost to us from winning is equally powerful.

Disclaimer: Doesn’t mean the likes of Cazorla, Giroud (hopefully), the BFG, etc haven’t been good signings. It just demonstrates he cannot be taken fully at his word. Revisionist thinking just to fit the perceived image of the man is flawed logic. Reality is King.

Except that in reality you are always gambling, even when a player meets your criteria for quality before you pull the trigger. Name a single manager that either 1) claims he buys just for shits and giggles and not for quality, or 2) has never gambled and lost, signing a flop.

To be fair to Man $ity it was a strong squad they put out and dominated the first 10 or so minutes but couldn’t capitalise. (sound familiar?) Disappointed with Podolski because of Giroud’s excellent ball retention and forward play really showed that there is next to no competition for that CF spot.

Routine win in the end; soaked up pressure, didn’t concede early, took our chances. But you can’t help but wonder that with a decent attacking sub of [insert star forward] calibre, we could penetrate the final third more often and keep the ball there.

man of the match, Ramsey (becoming a common phrase of mine during pre-season). And you know that if we had unleashed Rosicky, the tempo would have been upped a notch.

Great result good performance. We always have a team that can beat anyone on a good day. The reason we stress so much about signings is because the fringe players are never as good and we sell players for such big money. We still need more qualitee players to really challenge for trophies. Having so little backup playing 2 games a week takes its toll and having 1 or 2 real game changers and 1 more general in defence or midfield with an experienced goal keeper would be cause for genuine belief. With this squad can we go for 4 trophies (that is what we should be prepared for). I doubt that very much. Anzhi are selling everyone tho so how about a brazillian wizard (bernard or willian)

Great performance, great goals. Some really solid performances there today. Oh my god with just a few signings we could challenge. So so close. If anyone has the thought ‘would it have been better if we lost?’ please don’t refer to yourself as a fan of the club.

Excellent!
The squad is now a rock-hard chicken bone, with some tough, chewy meat attached. We’ve scraped off the crappy breadcrumb stuff, and now just need to slather the existing ingredient with some expensive sauce. Preferably not racist sauce, or sauce that might bite us on the lip when we try to eat it.
Or sauce that’s fatty and overly potato-esque.

Wtf is a flibnobber lol. Didn’t see the bernard situation. Who knew 2 years ago ramsey would become a star midfielder coz honestly I doubted him. Giroud was dissapointing last year but seems a lot sharper and assured now. Ox actually starting games is always a plus and fingers crossed for jw10s fitness. And gibbs for that matter, and rosicky (still a fan of this guy). I would want another cb though, mertisackers lack of pace worries me

Hopefully this performance will convince Blogs to get positive about Wenger and the team again, a return to a fun yet thoughtful commentary, without vendettas for considering Suarez a possible Gunner. Come Blogs let’s get back to pre-Jyly coverage!

Hopefully this performance will convince Blogs to get positive about Wenger and the team again, a return to a fun yet thoughtful commentary, without vendettas for considering Suarez a possible Gunner. Come Blogs let’s get back to pre-July coverage!

Hopefully this performance will convince Blogs to get positive about Wenger and the team again, a return to a fun yet thoughtful commentary, without vendettas for considering Suarez as a possible Gunner. Come on Blogs, let’s get back to pre-July coverage!

Girouds improvised finish for his goal today is why he will be a successful part of of front line. he completely fooled Hart and many other players would have tried to have gone around the ‘keeper, and ultimately miss.

I think Giroud will have a big season now he has had a year here already !!!

On the basis of the clips only, Ramsey seems to be in good nick going into the start of season, too. Walcott has got his head down and concentrated on bringing his potential on a step and if he can understand that coming inside from the wing to score is going to benefit the team as well as his own reputation, then I can feel reasonably optimistic, for now, for the new campaign.

With a few signings in a couple of key positions, not necessarily up front and we will be fairly solid. What then a cup ? Well, yeah go on, then ! A top two finish ? A close second ? Right now, I’ll say yes. Why not ? I review that positive attitude at the end of August, though !

Glad to see so much support for Ramsey. He is a real gem and I have feeling he will be influential this season. I am alarmed we are still short in cover especially in defence and still waiting for that elusive quality striker but fuck it we beat Man Cashity and as we have trimmed down squad sure there will be at least 3 signings before deadline day. Lets be the optimists and show our support for this great team. Where were the City fans?

Hey Blogs, in today’s blog you wrote that Arsenal will be knocked out of the CL, if they lose to fenerbahce and fenerbahce is banned from Europe. But why is that? Wouldn’t Arsenal go through, or play Red Bull Salzburg in another playoff? or if its true, then who will take Fenerbahce’s place in the group stages?

Don’t think Perez should be judged on the last 15-20 mins of the match, when Arsenal’s ball retention went down to zero, with only Giroud upfront, not able to hold the ball up, and Perez got Arsenal’s only card of the game. The fact that Wenger chose to play him today speaks volumes about his talent, i think

I was at the game and I’m pretty sure Na$ri didn’t play. My brother came over from England to watch the game and we were dying for the chance to call Na$ri a cunt, which we never got. We missed the start of the second half. Is it possible we missed the cunt? If so, he was totally anonymous. And a cunt. Rambo was sensational, by the way.

Proud to see a fellow Colombian playing for my loved Arsenal. And let me tell you, Perez came from the same academy and area in Colombia as James Rodriguez, Jackson Martinez and Zuñiga. He is a talented boy; not to say he is the one we need right now, but a guy who can develop very well under Wenger.

Come on you Colombians! I’ve been there (south to north by motorbicycle) and it’s a fanfuckingtastic country. Bogota for laughs, Medellin for fancy struttin’ about, Cartagena for humid lagers and boat-waiting. Everywhere else for mountain-based kicks and cops that don’t give a shit what you’re doing wrong.

its fine if he’s going to be developed as an eventual replacement for Arteta over the next few years.

but if we’re talking about winning the title THIS season or challenging for any trophy at all, we need stronger backup players. In fact we need better players than we already have.

City didn’t have their finishing boots on today. they had a load of chances they missed. on another day, they could easily have gone in. and we surprisingly were extremely clinical in the final third. but that maybe because City’s got a new manager in and they’re still trying to get used to how they want to play as a team. their defending was a bit suspect at the back. maybe its just pre-season.

and City’s an attacking team. most of the teams we’ll face in the league will be much more cautious. so the kind of clinical finishing in the final third we saw today, we might not see in the league because we won’t be allowed that much space.

the fact remains. we need better players in a lot of positions to have good squad depth if we’re serious about challenging for trophies this season.

I agree in general, but Rambo is only 21 and probably first choice now, this kid is 20 so not much younger, although admittedly less prem experienced. Still like a proper experienced CM as backup…would Cabaye cost us much more than 20m and if he brings a cup, would it not be worth it?

Also, they didn’t have a load of chances and they weren’t particularly great ones when they did, even the save Szczesny had to make was easy-ish as there was only one place Dzeko could put it. First hour or so we were comfortable against a team that spent considerably more, encouraging imo but it’s the cover I’m worried about rather than the first 11.

Absolutely love Aaron Ramsey. The player is growing from strength to strength. A surreal ball to play Walcott through and then a calm and composed finished. Can’t wait to see what he can do this season.

Ramsey is, at the moment, the best midfielder in the squad. I’m worried about the keepers. Fabianski is better then Sczez but non of them are good enough for a top PL/CL team.

Hope Jack can hit the form when the season starts. Not impressed with what i’ve seen so far, I know it’s in there but at the moment the midfield trio should be Ramsey, Mr Lego and Mozart. I would change Lego for a new signing but Ramsey and Mozart are the best so far in preseason and Ramsey is outstanding.

Good win from the boys today. Very efficient and I hope we continue to play as a solid defensive unit. But I have to say I found Man City to be quite poor considering they had their new signings for over a month now. Ramsey more than matched the £40 million Fernandinho.

Wenger still needs to get that chequebook out. Podolski up front is definitely not the answer, and Ox doesn’t look like he’s hit form yet. We need a dribbler who can take players on and beat them, like how Gervinho was supposed to be.

Figured a lot of us would think that a win would result in little or no transfer activity this window. It’s just as easy to believe that some targets saw that performance and are now even more excited about joining this squad. We’re young, fast, and showed that we can grind it out against the best. I know it was the end of preseason, but no one can say that game was played like a friendly after the 15 minute mark.

Great victory, but it could be in fact really bad for us. The lunatic head of Mr. Wenger might think again, that this squad is good enough (for what?) and dont make the significant signings we need, with world class players…

Actually i’d prefer to loose this game and maybe shake that old shitty french.. and win when the time is right, when the points count.

Thats a little too much, heh.. Maybe a regular defeat in this friendly could do more good than this victory, it could make the wrong impression for deluded minds like Wenger. He clearly doesnt give a shit about what we think and want, he is too stubborn for this… I’m tired to liste the same bullshit for 8 years.. and afraid to listen one more.

I’m thinking a little out of the box here. Maybe I am wrong. I prey to God I am…
And dont forget we are all in the same side here, we want the same thing.

Why wasn’t Higuain playing?? Where is Suarez?? Why did we only score 3 and concede 1? WENGER OUT!

In all seriousness, though, we had a good shape today and finished our chances well. At first I thought we were allowing ourselves to be attacked too easily with the midfield not protecting the defence enough, but then we turned up the heat, scored some classy goals and defended convincingly (despite conceding 1). Koscielny is quickly becoming our best player, I think

yep. thought we were passed too easily in midfield. Artsy’s been rusty in pre-season.

would only help if we got proper backup for him. but then again maybe Wenger thinks Ramsey and Wilshere could cover for him as we have quite a few bodies in central midfield – Arteta, Ramsey, Wilshere, Chamberlain, Rosicky, Santi.

therefore he might go with signing some young guy like Perez for the future. its not completely bonkers though. does make a bit of sense. only somebody who’s not top quality would prefer not playing week in week out. although i could argue it works both ways. most of the top teams have 2 genuine top drawer players in each position and they’re happy enough. with 50+ game seasons, its good to not play each and every game as well.

its just with our luck with injuries, we always fear the worst – 3 injuries at a time to first teamers which puts us in emergency mode. happens every season.

City are deadly nonetheless, some of their passing was out of this world and for a “new” team who haven’ geled as much as we have that’s something!

We won’t have a chance next time we meet them if we continue to stagnate in the transfer market lke we are doing. We need an imposing DM coz the amount of through balls that got through to Negredo were unsettling.

Theo is one of the best finishers in the prem and watch out for the OX, this is gonna be his year. I can feel ut…

Are you still jerking off to AW statements? Focus on what he does. Give a chance to your dead brain cells, think a liitle bit by asking questions like “what the f**k are you writing on?”. Take one step at a time as it takes years for your awakening. The comment made was on the acutal acquistion of players that did not materialze, but your ever sluggish thinking mechanism could not catch up with the thought.
You don’t even know what to say now, do you?

Andy mack,
Are you still jerking off to AW statements? Focus on what he does. Give a chance to your dead brain cells, think a liitle bit by asking questions like “what the f**k are you writing on?”. Take one step at a time as it takes years for your awakening. The comment made was on the acutal acquistion of players that did not materialze, but your ever sluggish thinking mechanism could not catch up with the thought.
You don’t even know what to say now, do you?

Extremely frustrating game. It highlights the fact even more so that if wenger just added to the squad we already have we could be challenging for everything. A CB ,DCM , AN actual winger and a striker would make this a world class team.

Arteta needs to be replaced. As good as he is at possesion and keeping the ball (even if he goes backwards and sideways far too much). He is nearly as slow as mertesacker. Against the top teams his lack of mobility gets found out and if it wasnt for his ability to read the game he would be absolutely buggered. The amount of times yaya and fernadinho ghiosted past him and he was left looking at their heels was scary.

Wilshere and ox need to up their games as well becase despite having clearly more talent, Ramsey is outshining both at the moment.

Wilshere is underdone and should ideally not start in the 11 agnst Villa. He still needs to strike a balance between going with the ball vs passing.
Poldi is right now a disaster at CF, but i feel that is mostly because of the way this team is setup to play, hes not the big lone forward holding the ball types. Can this team learn to play in 2 different ways depending on the man up top? Seems unlikely, so finding Poldi’s right place will be a challenge. He might be initially cursed like Ramsey was, but could eventually shine in much the same way when he adds varied experience and the team learn to play with him.
Is anyone else concerned about the under-preparedness of Santi? He misplaced far too many passes and was in general a bit untidy. Still early in preseason for him as he joined late but we need him to really accelerate his preparation and focus.

Off subject but I just watched the premier leagues greatest moments on bbc3 and the invincible season was shown And honestly it brought a tear to my eye how good we had been.
It makes you realise that we have something fundamentally wrong at this club at this point in time.
Will we ever see those days again under Arsene? I can’t answer that but something needs to change quickly or we are going to be left behind when we should be pushing for the title again.
Sad but true… Arsenal4life

Have you perhaps thought of how the world has changed since the Invincibles? The rise of Manchester City, Chelsea and other oil $$$ rich clubs. Building the Emirates. Repaying the debt of the Emirates. The evolution of the modern game on the pitch that was played then versus now. I don’t think the team we have now is the best ever to don the Arsenal jersey, but our very own fans give them far too little credit for how good they actually are. This is a damn shame. With the right additions in say 3 positions, we can truly challenge. The game has changed and its about time that we as Gooners remain proud of our past, but be cautious not to live in it either to the detriment of the present.

Support our current crop; they play blood sweat and tears for the Arsenal week in and week out.

This AW guy is becoming hilarious by the day. Now after his last pre season game he said “our squad is a bit thin”
What a discovery he has just made! You earn that much money and make such a dump statement to make yourself even more dumper than what people perceive of you, Arsene.

Can anyone please tell me where to apply for the manger job at Arsenal?

Yes, I am totaly unaware of the the light squad. But what has he done thus far to strengthen? Is he not late for making such comments?
People like you needs a slap in the face for approving his assesment.

He was asked a question about the strength of the squad numbers wise seeing as a lot of players have left the club during this window. In other words he’s simply telling you to expect some ‘incoming bodies’! Arsene speaks in code.

Mean because we played with good efficiency and punished City with 3 great counter attacking goals.

We didn’t take enough point off of the top 3-4 pretenders last season so this is a moral boosting win indeed and one the team can build confidence in.

Lean for obvious reasons. We could still do with a bit of cover to sustain ourselves through the season challenging on 3 fronts.

Once again, Wenger has pulled one out of the bag that has left us scratching our heads. Perez on the team sheet. i thought he was an academy player. Hard to tell if the Colombian would fit in but he didn’t look anywhere out of place from the multi-million signings in light blue.

Still think we need someone who can play in the central midfield role with height. If Gustavo is available, he is still one to consider but if Perez does get the nod, Gustavo may then depend on how well he fits in as 4th slot in Cback me thinks.

Up top, Giroud looks hungry. Another good goal for the French man where Podolski flattered to deceive centrally. We still need Suarez or someone (say Benteke or Michu?)

Through the middle, great vision and pass by Ramsey. He’s another whom I think has a claim to succeed Arteta in the near future.

Think we could still do with one more creative type. Thought Silva was fantastic for City. Would like someone like him on our squad to unlock those opponents who like to sit deep in their half.

Would be extremely happy to see someone like Remy Cabella or Yehven Konoplyanka, a bit of extra help and cover for Santi.

Transfer window is far from done and dusted. Take the positives from our pre-season and now hope Wenger connects the dots and brings in the added firepower. If he does, we may have a very good shot at success this coming season.

Lest we forget who we are with Arsenal, we have never been about the big signing.

I think part of the joy of supporting Wenger’s team is because we have been a sort of modern day Ajax developing players and polishing up raw gems like Henry, Pires, Flamini, Sagna and Viera into world class acts.

True he lost his way a bit during the stadium switch with the farcical dependancy on youth players but he seems to be back on track with a balance of young and proven. Santi, Podolski, Per, Arteta (give him credit, who would have thought he would have succeeded in converting the Spaniard into a top DM?)

Whilst we have flattered to deceive and were still too far off pace last season, we have stagnated at nevertheless a high standard and have constantly had players coming through that excite in Theo, Jack, Chamberlain, now Zelalem and Gnabry.

Also a bunch of players have come in that have made the step up who were hitherto unsung in Koscielny, Giroud, Ramsey

Now we may be seeing a different tack with Suarez coming in as a marquee signing for the first time since well, Bergkamp (pre-Wenger days, his ‘big’ forays in Arsharvin and Reyes proved a mixed bag)

Promising times ahead but Wenger has to follow through on promise.

As I mentioned in several blogs whilst it has been a frustrating summer largely created by our own sense of expectation, we are only (as per usual) 2-3 players away from fully competitive.

If one of those players was a top name (Suarez say) and the other two came in with good qualities, we will have enough to push anybody.

1) Great pass by Ramsey but good to see Walcott’s lethality back. He fleeced Clichy for speed. Scored 7 goals less than Bale last season but had twice (if not more) the assists. Thankfully, Madrid seem to have the hard on for the Welshman.

2) My favorite. Good interchange by the team. Intelligent play by Giroud not to move when he realised his position. Fine finish by the ever improving Ramsey.

3) Excellent control by Giroud and finish was collected. Have to say if he carries pre-season form into next season, he will be immense for us. Just need someone to be his alternate for us up top.

4) Their goal was well taken by Negredo who held off Koscielny physically. Thought all 3 Spaniards for City did well. Negredo, Silva (in particular) and Navas all look quality.

Sagna (sign him up) hit the post and Giroud was marginally off with a fine finish. Not to shabby for a team that is underweight at the moment. Wenger must have confused his sports, he must think he is in boxing and has to get past the weigh in before he can beef up. LOL.

on if he’s happy with the strikers he’s got…
I think what is important is the strength of the squad. Today is one game. We want to play 55 games and we are maybe a bit thin squad-wise to go through a whole season.

Well good work out and good confidence builder to get new season underway. Watched Perez intently as it was strange to see a trial it’s named and play in a pre season friendly. On the whole his twenty plus minutes was good position wise he was good he took one for the team when fouling navas. But it was the fact he kept talking and pointing to players that needed to be picked up, he played the ball simple when he had it and though its hard to judge on that small amount of time. I will say he did look promising and would be worth a punt on.

Arsenal squad is good enough to finish 6th. A quality striker and two quality mid’s will have us challenge for fourth.
We are well behind City Chelsea and Man U, despite this pointless friendly. Please don’t wait till another 8-2 thrashing to realise that.

Maybe it’s the way we finished last season. Maybe it’s our goal-laden preseason. Maybe it’s watching Giroud and Walcott man-handle City’s defenders and make pouty mcpouterson Joe Hart pout some more. But I feel this team is on the verge of something.

Stephen, it would be on the verge of something if we had any sort of depth but as blogs mentions in today’s, as soon as we hit a suspension/injury or two (which is inevitable)we’re pretty much screwed.

We no longer have Gervinho, Coquelin or Miquel to fall back on or even Yennaris. Look at our bench yesterday. One trialist and one 16 year old.

If money was spent wisely on 3-4 players, while still a shallow squad in comparison to most it would certainly us in a much healthier place than now and with the quality of the squad we really would compete.

Stephen…. If wenger adds 2 or 3 top players to the squad, then u would be excited about our chances to at least challenge, although we have a good foundation in the team, it lacks quality in depth, and with all the players wenger has moved on this summer,,we’ve never been so light squad wise, wenger has the money, spend it and make us a force again, what’s so difficult

Giroud’s finishing has improved heaps over the preseason. He used try and blast every shot but he seems to have learned that placement is just as, if not, more important. Hope he keeps it up and scores 20+ this season (maybe 30? Or too optimistic?)

Wenge is testing my patience. Why couldn’t we be active early in the transfer market is beyond me. Heard someone saying it’s difficult to sign 4 players in one window. But City did it. If they can why can’t we? The way I see it we need atleast 3 quality players if we are to challenge for anything this season. As time passes i think Wenger will go for average players in desperation. Since the good ones have already found their new homes. (cough cough “higuain”).

I think we all agree on some few points.
1. The team has a strong core.
2. We need between 3 and 4 new (1st team worthy) signings to add a bit of depth to the squad.
3. We have shipped off a lot of crap.
4. Ramsey has been excellent since the 2nd half of last season.(i used to question wenger on constant use of dis lad, now i swallow my words)
5. KOS is our bes centre back by a long mile and he doesnt have a perfect pairing yet
6. We need to add quality upfront and at the back.

I agree with many of your points. I would add though that this team lost to 2nd tier Blackburn and fourth tier Bradford. At times we were more than 20 points off the leader, capitulated in Bayern 1, and froze when we played City, Chelsea and Utd, and in the end just scraped 4th place. Now with a win in a friendly people are saying we can win the title with just two more quality players. I doubt it. We need at least 4 and probably 6 new additions.

I was at the game yesterday. Our lads did quite well. Theo was quite effective for a change and Ramsey looked very good. I posted a few pictures from the match on flickr -> http://www.flickr.com/pikkmikk/

I wholly agree with Arshavins Dietician that dear old Per is our weak link. It’s apparent against top opposition & even lesser teams. I’m afraid he will lose us points & with the same unreliability in each of our goalkeepers it will cost us dearly,notwithstanding Suarez or similar.